Stocking



im" s. emga STOCKING E. T. FLOYD Filed Aug. 14, 1945 IN V EN TOR.

April l2, 1949.

A ifo mehr@ Patented pr. 1:2, 14949 :l TE D S TT STQCKING :Earl T. Floyd, Reading, Pa., assignorto-:The Nolde` and Horst Company, Readingrlfaw a corpora,

tion of. Pennsylvania 2 Claims. 1

My invention relates generally to hosiery as made on a circular knitting machine, and more particularly to stockings provided with elastic in a circular area thereof to form a supporting garter band therefor.

Such self-supporting stockings, commercially designated as garter tops, are well known and commonly form the vgarter band therefor by adding elastic yarn to an area of the stocking while knitting thefabric in generally known and usual manner with loop-stitches of a conventional length and construction which may be termed for present purposes as normal As thus produced the resilience of the garter band is restricted and limited by the expansible stretch of such normal loop fabric Iand frequently results in uncomfortable and harmful binding constriction of a leg, when in use.

"It-1 Lis vmy primary object to improve the utility and comfort of such self-supporting stockings, e

and I believe I am the first one to make the garter band portion thereof of specially knitted loopstitches insuring extensive expansibility of the fabric and unrestricted freedom of the added elastic yarn so as to exert an eifective garter grip of comfortable gently resilient tensioned engagement with a leg.

More specifically my inventionconsists of a novel and radically-different knitted construction of theggarter band portion of a stocking, formed with loop stitches of abnormal length ordinarily unusable to produce a satisfactory fabric, and incorporate with such loop stitches a highly elastic yarn soias to produce a usable satisfactory band of pleasing appearance andl greatly increased comfort. y)She nature of my vimproved garter band and the manner of making the same will be more fully described hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings, and its novel features defined in the appendedclaims.

In the drawings- Fig. 1 is a conventional flattened view of a mans halfY hose or stocking, embodying my inventon.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same stocking as expanded when drawn over the leg of a wearer.

Fig. 3 is 'a greatly enlarged View of an upper portion of the stocking as in Fig. 1, showing the abnormally elongated loop stitches employed in my garter band area with the elastic yarn embodied therewith, and the normal loop stitches employed in the fabric contiguous to said band; an intermediate section of the garter band area being omitted and the top and bottom portions thereof Closed itogether t0 @Void fun-necessary havingy a leg portion. 6, foot portion l, and heel.

and toepockets 8 and 9. .Except for thefgarter band 5, this stocking may :be made in any manner heretofore known and conventionally Vis weft knittedinv continuous circular courses of loop stitches 'of normal length as indicated at` it! lin Fig. 3, using a recognized relatively inelastic. yarn such as silk, cotton, rayon, or ,other suitable synthetic material.

My garter band portion 5, in accordance with my invention and for mya-bovestated purpose, is knitted of, theisameor like inelastic yarn as in the rest Vof the stocking, and by continuous weft knitted courses, but the loop stitches thereof ,are of a special-,abnormal length as indcatediat 5 in Fig. 3, and the highly;v elastic yarn iB incorporated therein, as hereinafter described, acts to normally lretract ,andi shape the fabric produced bysuch stitchesandtprovide an extremely eXlJIlf sible bandfggivi-ng resilient freedomto the added elastic, yarn.

The velastioyarn I6 is embodied by ceiling-the same, under-suitable tension, around the fabric f tubepf said bandi, with, preferably, 4each winding; thereof ,lying in `a; cou-rse of thej loop stitches thereofgand4 retained, Without interknitting, with said loop stitches, byan interlacing engagement with. the loop stitches inz alternate needle wales of` said fabric as,.- indicated at i'l` in Fig. 3 and passed behind the loop stitches in theintermediate needle Walesas-ndicated at i8 said Fig.

3. A suitable selvage edgenmayvbe formed atfthe top, of the stocking` by, a plurality rof coil wind'- ings: 0f the-yarn l Sknitted 1into the initial course of loop stitches [Sain v a` rcoognized, and i1sual l manner. as indicated in Fig. 3.

It will be recognized and readily seen that such abnormal length loop stitch l5 would produce an extremely loose and shapeless fabric commercially unusable, but, as combined with the elastic yarn I6 in the manner aforesaid, it is drawn together and shaped by the latter into a practical and useful retracted tube as shown, capable of a very extensive expansion in accordance with my object, and permitting free and unrestricted stretch of the elastic yarn I6. And it will be seen also in Fig. 3, that a plurality of courses of loops I5 compared with a like plurality of courses of normal loops Ill produce a greatly lengthened fabric and the relaxed tension of yarn i6 causes the intermediately unengaged needle Wale loops i8 to forwardly displace and hide the alternate engaged needle wale loops Il so as to simulate a rib-knitted fabric commonly employed as the top portion of such a stocking, as indicated in Fig. 1, which also indicates the normally reduced tube formed in the manner aforesaid by such abnormally elongated loop stitches.

As will appear in Fig. 3, the loop stitches in the garter-band portion are at least twice the length of those of the leg and foot portions, in fact, several times the length-also, the length of yarn of each of the courses in the garter-band portion are at least twice that of a course of the leg portion.

In Fig. 2 I have indicated may garter band 5 as expanded to engage a leg, and it will be readily .seen that such lengthened band portion will be shortened by simple readjustment of such abnormal loops in response to the required enlargement of the tube, and that the unknitted elastic yarn will be free to stretch as required without restraint or limit exerted by the fabric, and that its elastic tension may be readily adjusted to insure a gently resilient and comfortable garter grip of a leg. The band 5 is desirably made of e adequate length so that when thus expanded, as shown in Fig. 2, it will distribute its garter tension on a leg over a suiciently large area to effectively avoid any localized compression.

As above fully described my improved garter band accomplishes my stated purpose of a freely expansible fabric formed of abnormal length loops with the elastic yarn held therein and unrestricted by such fabric to resiliently respond to comfortable garter support.

My stocking with its improved garter band may be knitted on a known machine adapted to produce so-called terry cloth fabric by suitable adjustment of the yarn feeds and sinker actions. The stocking is desirably knitted throughout in a continuous succession of weft courses of the aforesaid relatively inelastic yarn fed to the needles in usual manner, With the added highly elastic yarn in the band portion simultaneously laid in front of alternate needles and to the rear of intermediate needles and engaged by interlacing rwith alternate needle Wale loops without interknitting therewith in known and understood manner. The normal fabric loops employed in the leg and foot portions of the stocking are formed as usual by drawing the loops over the nose of the sinkers 2l and the abnormal length loops employed in the garter band and formed by an advanced position of said sinkers 2l so the loop stitches will be formed over the top 22 of said sinkers, as indicated in Fig. 4.

From the foregoing description it is believed the nature of my improved garter band stocking and a manner of making the same may be readily understood and its advantages of a comfortable gentle garter tension easily recognized. It is to be understood my improvements are not limited to the particular stocking shown but are applicable to other recognized hosiery, and the garter band need not necessarily form the top of the stocking but may be located intermediate its length, and other details may be varied and modied within the scope of my invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A stocking comprising normally stretchable leg and foot portions and an integral freely expandable garter-band portion, all formed throughout of circular weft-knitted courses of conventional inelastic yarn, the loop stitches in said leg and foot portions being of normal length and those in said garter-band portion being at least twice said length, the length of yarn of each of the courses in said garter-band portion being at least twice that of a course of said leg portion, and a yarn of high elasticity relative to said conventional yarn incorporated without interkultting by interlaced engagement with alternate needle wales of said elongated garter-band loop stitches.

2. A stocking comprising normally stretchable leg and foot portions and an integral freely eX- pandable garter-band portion, all formed throughout of circular weft-knitted courses of conventional inelastic yarn, the loop stitches in said leg and foot portions being of normal length, the length of yarn of each of the courses in said garter-band portion being several times that of a course of said leg portion, and a yarn of high elasticity relative to said conventional yarn incorporated without interkntting by interlaced engagement with alternate needle Wales of said elongated garter-band loop stitches, the loop stitches of said garter-band portion being several times the length of those of said leg and foot portions and sufficiently long as to provide very extensive expansion of said garter-band portion and unrestricted stretch of said elastic yarn, thereby effecting a comfortable, gently resilient, garter grip engagement with a leg.

EARL T. FLOYD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,052,875 Gammons Sept. 1, 1936 2,120,665 Crimmins June 14, 1938 2,247,343 Fregeolle June 24, 1941 2,315,119 Green Mar. 30, 1943 2,323,988 Fregeolle July 13, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 241,392 Great Britain Oct. 22, 1925 

